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Thursday, 29 November 2012

There is such a thing as too many Joneses so I'll switch to another family name after this Jones

Richard the second came into the world on 20th October 1845 at the smithy at Woodside, Llananoo and. like his father, became a blacksmith. He married Mary Crowther 'according to the rites of the Particular Baptists' at Maesyrhelem Baptist Chapel between Llananno and Llanbadarn Fynydd. Just before 1881 they moved to the Smith Shop at Llandewi Ystradenni (a few miles south on the A483). They had 4 children: Annie, John, Richard (the third) and Arthur and sometime after their 5th child, William was born, Mary died. She's buried in the churchyard at Llanbadarn Fynydd.

Who knows when Sarah Mantle Lewis came into his life but she's listed as the housekeeper of Edward Morgan in Llandewi Ystradenni in the 1891 census and Ethel Lewis/Jones was born on 21 Nov 1892 and there's not much doubt that Ethel was Richard's daughter (Sarah Mantle Lewis Jones will have her very own post, believe me!).

Richard and Sarah married at Maesyrhelem on 25th June 1898, sometime after the birth of son Thomas (are the Particular Baptists more forgiving of 'sins' than any other denomination?) but before the birth of my grandfather, Pryce Jones in 1899 and they later had another son, Walter.

Richard died on 4th April 1913 at Wakefield Green near Llanbister aged 67. Cause of death was Arteriosclerosis (10 years) morbus cordis (5 years) and chronic nephritis (2 years); Sarah must have had some nursing to do! Richard was buried at Llanbadarn Fynydd with his first wife Mary. What must Sarah have felt then? More of her anon

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Today's Jones is Richard (the first) the one born to Timothy and Hannah of Dolfor, Kerry in 1821 (well, he was baptised on 5 Aug 1821).

That 'Kerry' has caused problems for those transcribing censuses or rather, for those searching transcribed censuses. This Kerry is a couple of miles outside Newtown in the old county of Montgomeryshire (modern day Powys), it's not the Kerry in Ireland. I'd been searching for a Jones born in Wales; the transcriber listed him as being born in Ireland. It could be a lifetime's work to correct all the mis-transcription of just Welsh placenames on Ancestry, never mind all the other service providers.

At some point between 1841 and 1842, Richard moved to Llanbadarn Fynydd in Radnorshire (not too far along the A483) and a couple of years later, a mile or so along the same road to Llananno to Woodside. The Old Smithy is now a holiday let. While in Llanbadarn Fynydd he married Charlotte Price. Charlotte's mother, Mary Mantle Price was the sister of Charlotte and Richard's son Richard (Richard the second)'s second wife Sarah Mantle's grandfather. With me so far? This means Mary Mantle Price and her husband James Price appear twice in my family tree.

Having read through the Llanbadarn Fynydd parish registers and seen the number of illegitimate births I imagine it must have been terribly important to read the banns of marriage and I wonder how many didn't go ahead due to consanguinity issues. But more of that when I get on to the Mantle line!

Richard and Charlotte had several children; 3 died in infancy (Arthur, Mary and Edwin) but my researches have focused on the direct line - Richard the second - and also his younger brother James Jones (who deserves, and will get, a post of his own).

There is something left to research on Richard the first and the question to be resolved is highlighted in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. In 1881, at the Smith Shop in Llanbadarn Fynydd (he moved back), a Mary Stephens (aged 52) is listed as a servant; at the bottom of that household's entry is Margaret Stephens (aged 10) who's listed as 'daughter' though it's not clear whose daughter she is. In 1891 the mystery is compounded as Margaret Stephens (now aged 20) is listed as 'granddaughter' directly under Richard's name and above Mary Stephens (68) who's listed again as a servant. Who's the daddy? If I get a spare £9.75 (the cost of a certificate from the GRO) sometime perhaps I'll find out.

Richard died back at Woodside on 2 February 1902; he's described as 'Retired Blacksmith (Master); the cause of death was 'senile decay 8 years, exhaustion 12 months'. The informant was Richard Jones, grandson (this Richard isn't in my direct line but since there aren't any other Richards, he may as well be Richard the third and there's an interesting tale about him too for another day).

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Born probably in the 1780s, my great great great grandfatherTimothy Jones is my earliest Jones and the one I know least about (apart from my grandfather Pryce Jones but he'll appear later) so he has a sort of ghostly presence at the top of the tree.

He first appears (in research so far) getting married in Llangurig (Montgomeryshire) church on 16 January 1808 to Hannah Lewis and they were btp - both of this parish - though further poring over a distinctly indistinct microfilm viewer in the National Library in Aberystwyth failed to find any other trace of either of them.

The next time he pops up is 6 years later in the records of the parish of Dolfor, Montgomeryshire when Elizabeth, daughter of Timothy Jones, blacksmith and Hannah his wife was baptised in 23 Sept 1814. Timothy (junior) followed on 9 Apr 1818, Richard (my gg grandfather) on 5 Aug 1821, Jane on 28 Apr 1823. And then...
Anne, illegitimate daughter of Hannah Jones and James Mills was baptised on 3 Aug 1828.

Ble mae Timothy? Where is Timothy? There's no burial record for Timothy in Dolfor or even Llangurig. I can't find anything in freereg that matches. Where did he die? In Dolfor and taken somewhere else to be buried? Did he die elsewhere and get buried where he fell?

Some things I do know, he was a blacksmith; the smithy at Dolfor is still standing; at least 4 more generations of Joneses were smiths and, one of these days, I'll 'find' the real Timothy Jones.

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Well then, here we are, YetAnotherJones starts a blog. How many Joneses are there out there anyway? My aim is to introduce some of my family to you out there.The paternal side: Jones, Morris, Woolley, Owens, Mantle, Rees, Thomas and othersThe maternal side: Russell, Stonehouse, Agar, Brown, Little, Dennison, Fair and othersThe highs and lows of family history research and maybe, on occasion, the highs and lows of just living.